Have You Heard Of The New Disease, "The Twitch?"

You probably have it too.

Disease (n.) — a particular quality, habit, or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person or group of people.

Let's say you just posted a new photo or a status. You keep constantly checking your phone, waiting for a new notification to appear, even if there isn't one. You might even think you heard your phone's 'ping' go off, even if it didn't. Either way, you'll react to your phone even when there's no activity. You'll keep checking every few minutes or so, even if it's bringing you no real benefit, other than likes.

That's "the Twitch."

Put down your phone for 5 minutes. 30 minutes. An hour. 4 hours. An entire day. A week. A month. A year?

Could you do it?

It would be difficult, maybe inconvenient, but not impossible.

A phone never started out as a need. But through time and massive changes in technology, we've been told we need this product. This will make our lives easier. And it has — to a certain extent. But it has also chained us. As we have become wireless, we are more connected than ever to our technologies. But are we becoming so connected that we've become disconnected to real life?

We're all programmed into the system, where survival is based on connectedness. Where relevance only exists if you're on the grid.

We're trained to constantly seek validation from the internet, rather than the people around us. Our real connections will not amount to the same meaning as internet fame if this is the lens we choose to see through.

We have become intoxicated by every like, comment and retweet. A notification of recognition brings us a small piece of instant gratification, and we become accustomed to that feeling. Like an addictive drug, it would be hard to go without it for very long — we would feel a little less like ourselves.

Think of the real living you could be doing when you're not looking down at your phone, but rather, looking up at the world around you, the people around you.

The phone doesn't control you, you control it. But you have to make a conscious effort to do so. If you're simply coasting through life, you won't be living, you'll be passing by, waiting for your next "ping."

Make a conscious effort to live deliberately.*

You'll appreciate it, and so will your phone (it won't die as fast).

*a philosophy used by the minimalists